Expansion-joint for vehicle-bodies.



E. E. COLLISON.

EXPANSION JOINT FOR VEHICLE BODIES.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 19. I915.

Patentd Dec. 7, 1915.

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y////////fl//// UTE @TEBd AE EDWARD E. COLLISON, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI,.ASSIGNOR TO RUSSELL IE. GARDNER, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 7, 1192115.

Application filed April 19, 1915' Serial No. 22,505.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, EDWARD E. COLLIsON, acitizen of the United States, residing at St. Louis, State of Missouri,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in EX- pansion-Jointsfor Vehicle-Bodies, of which the following is a full, clear, and eXactdescription, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming apart hereof.

My invention has relation to improvements in expansion joints for wagon(or vehicle) bodies; and it consists in the novel features ofconstruction more fully set forth in the specification and pointed outin the claims.

The present improvement is particularly directed to that class of wagonor carriage bodies wherein the outer walls or panels are secured to aninner frame composed of longitudinal and transverse sills, the objectsought being to provide a constructlon whlch will eliminate the dangeror possibility of the walls of the body cracking or splitting at thecorners as a result of expansion or sweliing of the sills brought aboutby various atmospheric conditions and influences, by moisture or water,and other causes having more or less effect on wooden structures.

The advantages of the invention will be readily apparent from a detaileddescription thereof in connection with the accompanying drawings, inwhich' Figure 1 represents a perspective of a conventional wagon body,showing my invention applied thereto; Fig. 2 is a top plan of one end ofthe improved body, parts being broken away; Fig. 3 is a bottom plan ofFig. 2, showing in addition however a fragment of one of the crossfloorsupporting strips; F 4 is a vertical longitudinal section on theline l lof Fig. 2; Fig. 5 is a side elevation of the body at one of thecorners thereof, with a portion of the panel wall peeled elf or removedto expose the lap joint formed by the meeting ends of the side and endsills; Fig. 6 is a view of the same joint taken at right angles to theshowing in Fig. 5, or looking to the left on Fig. 5 with the end panelwall removed; and F ig. 7 is a plan of one corner of the body showingthe old method of construction and on which the present is animprovement.

Referring to the drawings, and for the present to Figs. 1 to 6inclusive, 1, 2, represent respectively the side (or longitudinal) andend (or transverse) walls forming the panel portion of the wagon body,said panel being generally constructed of a single panel or sheet ofsoft or gum wood bent to the desired form, the corners of the panelbeing more or less rounded as shown. This feature is well understood inthe art and requires no further description. In the present embodimentof my invention the sill section of the body to which the panel iscemented or glued comprises the longitudinal or side sills 3 and the endor transverse sills 4:, the terminals of the members 3, a, forming a lapjoint a at the corners of the body, the face 6 formed by the scarfing ofthe end sill (Fig. 2) engaging a corresponding face on the scarfed endof the side sill (which is the thicker or heavier sill) so as to let theside sill project above the end sill (Fig. 6), the scarfed terminals ofthe respective sills forming the several lap joints, being secured byscrews 5 passed therethrough from the bottom (Fig. 3) as well understoodin the art. The sills thus united constitute the sill-frame whichsupports the cross-bars 6 on which the flooring 7' is laid. The sillsare usually composed of hard wood such as maple and the like, the panelportion being any suitable variety of soft wood.

In the present embodiment of my invention the ends of the scarfedterminals of the respective sills 3, 4-, as well as the sides of saidterminals are corrugated, whereby there are formed at the corners of thesill-frame parallel ridges r disposed in planes parallel to the generalplane of disposition of the sill-frame (or in other words horizontal)said ridges curving in conformity to the curvature of the corners of thepanel body and through an arc coextensive with the arc of curvature ofsuch rounded corner (Fig. 2). When therefore the scarfed ends of thesills 3, 4, are overlapped and properly assembled, the outer facescontiguous to each corner of the sill frame will have disposed thereon aseries of corrugations resulting in parallel ridges or ribs 1alternating with corresponding depressions or grooves d, said corrugatedcorners being preferably coated with a layer of white lead or equivalentma terial m (Fig.

It will be seen from the foregoing that in the event of a swelling orlateral expansion of the wood composing the sills, a

swelling by the way which makes itself felt to a most pronouncec degreeat the corners of the sill-frame, the hard wood ridges 7 of the sillswill dig er embed themselves into, the comparatively soft wood of thepanel frame 1, 2, thereby eliminating the dang r of the panel splittingor cracking at the corners c, c. The embedding of. the ridges r into thewood of the panel is facilitated by forming the ridges l -shaped orwedgeshaped in cross-section as shown (Fig. l), the sharp edges of theridges biting into the wood of the panel without straining the latter tothe splitting point; and with the embedding of the ridges 7 into thepanel, the layer of white lead or other coating will be forced well intothe spaces formed by the grooves (Z, so that there results a water tightjoint at the corner of the wagon body, the panel remaining intact. Bycorrugating the corners of the sill as described, the same contact withthe corner Walls ofthe panel only at points defined by the rid es, therebeing no contact opposite the grooves (Z. By

' this arrangement only those portions of the panels which are engagedby the ridges are affected with any swelling oreross expansion of thewood of the sills, the other portions remaining undisturbed; and whenthe wood of the sills swells, the ridges simply dig orbury themselvesinto the panel without causing any splitting thereof. lVere the sillcorners smooth so as to engage the panel corners throughout, then, therebeing I no formations on the sills which could dig into the panels, thelatter would yield under the expansive force of the wood (which alwaysexpands across the grain) and split. By my invention this evil effect isaltogether avoided- Attempts have been made to overcome the splitting ofthe panel corners by cutting away the terminals of the lapped sills 3,l, so as to leave a corner slot 8 between the sill frame and thepanel'frame as shown in Fig. .7, but this method is objectionable forthe reason that Water and moisture accumulating in wet weather at theslot 8 find their Way to the glue or other adhesive by which the sillsare in a measure joined to the panel Walls, in time disintegrating theadhesive and causing the sills to work loose from the parallel to panelframe. My present invention is therefore an improvement on the methodshown in Fig. 7.

I do not of course wish to be limited to ridges or corrugations as hereshown to bring about the spaced points or surfaces of contact betweenthe corners of the sill frame and panel frame, any equivalent formationsor projections operating to embed themselves at intervals into the panelwalls without causing a splitting of the latter, being contemplated bymy invention.

The joint herein while finding extensive application in vehicle bodies,is not restricted in its use thereto, but may serve as a oint in otherarts and industries. The corrugating herein described is not to beunderstood as limited in its application to lap joints, but may beapplied to any joint whatsoever.

rlaving described my invention what I claim is:

1. In a vehicle body, side and end sill members suitably connected atthe corner, a panel frame extending around said corner, the sill membersbeing provided with corrugations opposite the corner of the panel frame.

2. In a vehicle body, side and end sill members suitably connected atthe corner, a panel frame extending around said corner, the sill membersbeing provided with corner corrugations disposed in planes parallel tothe general plane of the sill members.

3. In combination with a vehicle body panel frame, sill-frame composedof side and end sills lap-jointed at the corners of the frame andencompassed by the panel frame, the outer faces of the sills at thecorners being corrugated to form ridges and alternatingdepressionsdisposed in planes the general plane of the sill frame, thecross-section of the ridges being wedgeshaped, whereby with a swellingof the joint members at the corners, the ridges will embed themselvesinto the panel walls, for the purpose set forth.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

EDWARD E. COLLISON. lVitnesses:

EMIL S'rAnnK, J. S. HUNT.

, Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, byaddressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

